Next Steps Together
by lettersfromlorena
Summary: A new episode in the Together series (Weekends, Winter, Holiday, A New Year). Maura and Jane have just returned from a vacation in the Caribbean after announcing their engagement Christmas Eve to family and friends. An appointment at the fertility clinic did not go as planned when Maura discovers she would not be able to carry their baby but they have a plan for going forward.
1. Chapter 1

AN: A new episode in the **Together** series (Weekends, Winter, Holiday, A New Year). Maura and Jane have just returned from a vacation in the Caribbean after announcing their engagement Christmas Eve to family and friends. An appointment at the fertility clinic did not go as planned when Maura discovered she would not be able to carry their baby but they have a plan. **Adult Content **in this chapter.

Next Steps Together Chapter One

They arrived back in Boston New Years day to a family dinner and welcome back celebration. It was great to be home and see everyone although both women could have done without the bitter cold New England weather. After everyone had gone home they stayed up showing Angela their vacation photos of the beautiful resort on St. Martin and talking about the interesting things they had seen, the wonderful food and people they had met.

Both Maura and Jane knew they were in for a hectic week returning to work. Maura had pushed aside several meetings she needed to attend in order to take the holiday. Jane had agreed to cover some extra shifts when she got back and Korsak would now be out for his vacation leaving her to partner with random people on any cases that popped up.

The good news was that once the New Year celebrations were over Boston statistically had a low homicide rate the remainder of January. In fact, this was the time when Cavanaugh usually sent detectives off to seminars and conferences. Jane had managed to escape these for the past two years but now she was scheduled to be away for three days in Philadelphia, which she was not looking forward to. Sean had signed her up to be on a panel for LEO's discussing best practices for cases involving missing and exploited children at an Eastern Regional conference and he was having none of her eye rolling, none of her "Really? REALLY?" outburst.

Even though it was Saturday Maura was up and out early the next day back in Chief Medical Examiner mode anxious to see what kind of shape her assistants had left the lab and her office.

Jane got up to have breakfast with her since she was picking up TJ for skating lessons over at the Murphy Rink in South Boston where she had learned to skate as a kid. Part of her Christmas present to TJ was a complete hockey outfit from helmet to skates including a Bruins shirt that came down below his knees. Her gift to Tommy was to take TJ for a few hours Saturday mornings as long as she didn't get called in to work.

The rink was a madhouse of four to six year olds suited up in miniature Bruins gear pushing milk crates around on the ice much more interested in playing bumper cars and crashing into each other than learning how to skate. Several young skating instructors tried to herd them into smaller groups to go over basics while a few parents roamed the ice. Most were watching from outside the glass or up in the bleachers texting on their phones.

Jane had laced up her skates and immediately realized she would need to get them sharpened if she was going to be doing this for the next three Saturdays.

She hung out on the ice not too far from TJ who was having a blast with the other boys and girls in his group taking photos and videos with her phone every now and then. A couple of Dads moved over toward her by the boards and introduced themselves. Jane explained she was here with her nephew. They told her where she could get her skates sharpened.

By the time she and TJ got back to the house after stopping for cheeseburgers, fries and milkshakes they were both ready for a nap. Tommy swung by to pick him up around 2 and Jane headed into the office to see what she had missed the past week.

Maura finally came home just after 8pm having stayed late to clear her desk and reschedule her calendar as best she could. It looked like she would be on the road for the next five days with two nights away from home as well.

Jane had kept her dinner warm in the oven while she trolled the DVR for football and ice hockey games she had missed. The Celtics were a disaster this winter and had already started trading away talent to bring in younger players for the future.

They headed upstairs soon after dinner and when Jane came out the bathroom she found Maura sitting up in bed scrolling through the photos and videos of TK at the rink. She laughed at the antics of the little ones on ice and then handed the phone back to Jane with a shaky sigh and sad smile.

"Aren't they adorable?" Jane asked as she plugged the phone in to charge. She looked up when Maura didn't respond. "What's going on?" Maura was wiping her eyes trying to smile.

"I just see how good you are with him and how great it is that he has you in his life. Tommy's doing a great job but you are such a natural with kids Jane." She rolled over under the covers and snuggled into her arms.

"I wanted to do that, to have a family of little ones running around so you could teach them all these wonderful things."

'Hey, we're gonna do that Maur. We're going to have our family. I told you, I'm committed to you, to us. As soon as I get back from Philadelphia I'll schedule an appointment at the clinic and we'll see what the next steps are for us. Either I can carry or we'll look into getting a surrogate, or we'll look into adopting."

She leaned up on an elbow, looking down at Maura. She brushed her dark blond hair back from her face and smiling left a kiss on her nose.

"You're the only person I can imagine myself doing this with Maura. I have never thought about settling down with anyone else. Even with Casey I was so freaked by his attempts to domesticate me and now look at me. I'm taking showers everyday, ordering French food at a 5 star restaurant and schlepping the kid to skating lessons. Who knew?"

Maura choked out a laugh as she wiped her face. "I know, honey. I just wish…" her voice trailed off. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Do you think I'm horrible for not trying? Do you think I'm less…of a partner for not at least trying to get pregnant? I just feel so…like I'm a terrible person for not wanting to be bedridden for nine months if I were able to get pregnant?" she broke down with a sob.

"No, no, _no,_ wait, Maura you can't think that. No, come here." Jane wrapped her tight in her arms and pulled her up so she was lying of top of her.

'Ssshhh, don't, Maur. Please don't. I think it's horrible that you don't even get the chance to find out. But it's not an option, Maura. I would never want you put your health at risk like that to begin with. We will find another way."

She rubbed her back and kissed her cheek, murmuring how much she loved her and needed her until finally Maura's breathing evened out. Jane frowned in the darkness, her heart aching for the Maura's sadness, wondering how this would impact their relationship. Little did Jane know that this would be the beginning of two very long weeks for both women.

Maura had packed some clothes for Jane to take on her trip to Philadelphia before she left for a meeting in New York. They skypped while away and talked to each other every night. Jane was happy to run into Amanda Burton the detective from Baltimore that she had worked with on the Ridenour case last summer. She had had dinner with Amanda and her wife Kit when she had gone down to Maryland to interview a suspect.

The three days went by faster than she expected and there were some interesting sessions that she went to although she missed having Frost to fool around with. The last night of the conference she went out to dinner with Burton and a handful of other people she had met. After dinner as was custom the local detectives took the visiting detectives to their local water hole and at first Jane was having a great time feeling like she was in the old Dirty Robber with sports on the all the TVs and everyone drinking pitchers of Yuengling or Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Amanda headed out after the first round since she was driving first thing in the morning back to Baltimore. She and Jane made plans to stay in touch over the phone if possible.

Jane got into it with a few of the Philly detectives once the conversation got around to sports with Jane quietly letting the Patriots and Red Sox do the bragging for her but when one guy kept yapping out how much better Philly was as a sports town Jane simply shrugged said "Boston Strong" and the table got quiet for a moment.

A couple of people got up to dance and talk flowed smoothly again. Jane found a shot of tequila in front of her and looked up to see the yapper nod his head.

She smiled and held it up to toast him before downing it.

After a few hours she was ready to head back to the hotel and like most of these conferences she had to head guys off at the door who chose to ignore the ring on her finger and even an attractive young woman, a lawyer at the conference asked her if she wanted some company. Fooling around was always fair game at conferences when no one would remember what happened the next day and whatever happened in Philly would stay in Philly.

She went back to her room, alone and called Maura knowing it was way too late and would get her voicemail but she really missed her. Maura would have a field day with her drunk dialing rambling message but she didn't care. She really missed her. Her head was still throbbing when she boarded the flight home the next afternoon and she couldn't wait to get home.

Maura had come back and left again before Jane returned so she was home alone for three days. The precinct was unusually quiet with just two cases on the board. Both of them gang related shootings in Dorchester and Mattapan with witnesses naming the shooters who were picked up within 24 hours. With Korsak still on vacation Jane worked one of the cases with a Detective Serpas. By the end of the second day she was ready to shoot him and turn herself in. She began to realize how spoiled she was working with Korsak and Frost. Both had appreciated her talent and abilities and once she had proved herself to Korsak like any other rookie in the squad, he had been her strongest supporter.

Serpas was a pig. He treated her like she was a junior detective, referred to her as the lady detective when they interviewed a witness and she could have sworn she heard him refer to her a dyke when he left for lunch with one of his buddies.

She wasn't going to say anything but when Maura called that night she could tell something was bothering her. She vented for ten minutes before catching her breath.

"When are you coming home?" Jane whined.

"Jane, you have my schedule and itinerary in your phone. I'm home Friday night and we have plans for a late dinner. Can you hang in there a few more days?"

Jane could hear the teasing smile in her voice. "Don't you miss me at all?" she wanted to stamp her foot but lying on the bed made it impossible.

Maura's tinkling laugh and humming sounds did nothing to help Jane's attitude.

"Of course I do, sweetheart," she whispered. "I think this is the longest I've gone without…you know…since we started dating."

"Without what?" Jane harrumphed. Maura was quiet on the other end.

"You mean you haven't even…yourself? For almost two weeks?" her voice was incredulous.

"Have you Jane?"

"NO!" But I'm like a…ah…a sex camel! I can go for months, well maybe not months but I've always known about your need for regular '_wellness activities'_ shall we say," her voice smug and naughty all at once. "Didn't you bring any…ah…toys with you on your trip?"

"I wanted to wait to be with you, darling." Maura's laugh was contagious.

"So, you haven't had any 'personal time' since we got back from the island?" Jane was impressed and aroused. She reached over and slid open Maura's bottom drawer in her night table.

"What…are you opening my drawer Jane Rizzoli?" Maura almost shouted on the phone.

Her hand slammed the toy drawer shut, her face flushing beet red. "Nope. What drawer? No, I'm just laying here. Jeeesh!"

Maura burst out laughing. "I'm just teasing Jane. It sounds like you could use some relaxing activities after the day you described with Detective Serpas."

Jane heaved a sigh. "No, I'm going to sleep. I ran about five miles and worked the body bag for a half hour after work. Besides, if you can wait, I can wait. I want to…you know…when you get home. I want it to be special. I just miss you, that's all. A lot."

"You're so sweet, Jane. It's three days. I'll be home before you know it and we'll have a nice romantic dinner and then we'll have all night to get caught up."

"Come home soon, Maur. K?" Jane's voice was starting to drift as she rolled over to hug Maura's pillow.

"I'll see you soon. Goodnight honey. I love you."

"Love you too."

Maura waited until she heard Jane's phone click off before she hung up with a sigh.

The good news was with no new cases Jane didn't have to be around Serpas but the bad news was without any incoming calls, she would spend the day getting caught up with paperwork. Then she saw Cavanaugh check the empty callboard for the third time and she knew what was coming.

When she came back from lunch with Frankie she found a stack of cold case folders on her desk.

"Unnngh!" she moaned. "I can not catch a break this week!"

Frankie laughed as he punched her shoulder and headed off to check in with Nina in the computer room.

By the time Friday evening rolled around Jane was a wreck. Trapped at her desk reviewing cold cases, filing paperwork and no new cases was driving her nuts. She'd come home and had a knock down drag out with Angela who had simply asked where they were in their 'starting a family process'.

"Nowhere, Ma! Christ, can you leave it alone? And don't you dare say anything to Maura about it either. I mean it. Not. A. Word. We will tell everyone once we have things sorted out. We haven't even picked a date for the wedding yet!" she yelled.

Angela frowned sensing something was wrong but knew it wasn't the right time to push her daughter. 'Well," she smiled. Why don't I show you some of the places I've been looking at and what the options are for…?"

"No, no, no! Ma, please, no wedding planning until Maura has had a chance to sort out what she wants. This is really important to her, Ma. She's always talked about her dress and her dream wedding location and even her cake for crying' out loud. Just…leave it."

"Isn't it important to you Jane? Cause its important to me! I thought I would never have the chance to see you walk down an aisle and now…and now you have finally settled down and found someone who loves you and, and, and this is important to all of us Jane!" Angela was shouting right back at her now.

Jane's shoulders slumped. All the air went out of her. She leaned against the counter. "I know, Ma. It is important to me. I know it's important to you and I promise, when the time comes, we will sit down and have you be part of the planning." She exhaled noisily and ran her hands through her hair.

"Look, I've had a really shitty week at work and I'm waiting for Maura to come home and I wanted to have this romantic dinner ready for her and I haven't even had time to jump in the shower. We haven't seen each other in over almost two weeks, Ma. Can we just have tonight and then we can all get together for dinner tomorrow?"

Angela tilted her head, biting her lip to keep from grinning. She walked over and squeezed Jane's cheeks in her hands planting a kiss on her nose. "Go jump in the shower Romeo and I'll get the dinner started."

Maura closed the front door and inhaled deeply. Something smelled wonderful. She poked her head around the corner and saw long white candles lit on the dining room table and heard soft music playing.

Jane was humming at the stove, an apron over her nice dress shirt and slacks. Her hair was up in a loose bun above her neck and a look of concentration scrunched her face, as she tasted the sauce.

"I'm home, sweetheart." Maura ran her hands around Jane's waist and reached up to kiss her neck.

"Jesus, I didn't even hear you come in!" Jane dropped the wooden spoon in the pot and turned to gather Maura up in her arms.

They kissed for several minutes until finally Jane broke apart nuzzling into her hair. "I'm so happy to see you! Are you hungry? Dinner's ready."

"Yes, I'm starving! I left right from the meeting and grabbed a quick bite on the Turnpike on the way home. What are we having?"

"Well, I was running a little late after work today so Ma had this sauce in the freezer and she had some fresh pasta and I found the frozen shrimp in the freezer."

"Yum! Let me use the bathroom and I'll grab some wine."

They sat back from the table, full, smiling at each other. Maura filled their glasses with the remaining wine and came around the table to sit on Jane's lap.

She set her glass down and traced a finger along side her angular face, tucking an errant wisp of hair behind her ear.

Jane ran her hands up over her shoulders and pulled her face in for a kiss.

Sitting back in the chair she sighed, a smile on her face. She pulled Maura's hips in a little closer. She looked wonderful, beaming, a glow about her. You'd never know she had been driving for four hours in Friday night traffic to get home. Jane's breathing was starting to pick up. "Do you…ah…want to tell me about your meetings?" she asked, one eyebrow arched, head tilted.

Maura smiled, lips parted, eyes laughing. "N-o-o-o," she whispered softly, shaking her head. She could feel the tension in Jane's body.

Jane nodded thoughtfully, and then leaned forward to kiss her again. This kiss was darker, a warning that she would be taking her time, that she was both hungry and needy and she perhaps would not be gentle tonight.

Maura shivered knowing it may take hours before Jane could relinquish the emotions driving her passion. She stood up pulling out of Jane's grasp and blew out the candles on the table and held out her hand pulling Jane up out of the chair. They stood inches apart, looking at each other.

Jane grabbed her waist pulling her close to her body, looking into her eyes. She looked down at her lips while biting her own, then looking back up into her eyes, she moved her hands to gently hold her face, slowly bending in to kiss her.

"Upstairs?" she breathed. Maura nodded, lips parted. "I'll get the doors if you get the lights."

Jane followed her upstairs into the bedroom suddenly reaching for her arm.

Pinned to the wall, Maura moaned into her mouth giving her tongue an opening and Jane did not hesitate, exploring her mouth with both a curiosity and fierceness that seemed to last three days before ending it with a kiss to her bottom lip, both hearts pounding, chests heaving.

Dipping her head, she rested against Jane's chest for a moment. She felt the strength and power of Jane's frustration. She looked up and saw the need in her eyes.

She had only to nod and whisper "yes, yes darling" as she stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed watching Jane go to the closet.

She stepped out of her heels and unbuttoned her blouse, unzipped her skirt, and rolled down her silk stockings. She laid her skirt and blouse on the chair and waited on the bed listening to Jane getting undressed in the closet. She took a deep breath and held it, closing her eyes with a smile on her face.

Shaking her head, she reached over and opened the drawer looking for the tube of lubricating fluid. Her panties had been damp for most of the ride home but she didn't want Jane to be her usual patient self tonight.

She gasped softly when Jane stepped out of the closet into the soft light of the bedside lamp. She still had most of her tan from their vacation, her hair was piled high on her head and she had pulled on a blinding white tank top. On her hips she wore just the harness and dildo.

She knelt on the side of the bed and reached over to turn the light out.

"Please," Maura moaned. "Please leave it on? I need to see you."

Jane sat on the side of the bed and took the tube from Maura's hand. She nodded, her lips parted, breathing heavily as she looked at the blush on Maura's face and chest, her bra lifting up her breasts, her nipples already hard.

She watched as Maura reached behind her and unhooked the navy blue bra. Sliding it off her shoulders and tossing it on the chair. Bringing her knees up she slipped her matching panties off and tossed them as well. Lying back on the pillows she spread her legs, reaching her hands out toward Jane, watching her eyes.

Jane swallowed taking her tank top off over her head and leaving it on the bed. She crawled over between her legs to settle down on her knees. Running her hands up along her thighs and hips she leaned down to kiss her open mouth.

Jane lowered herself along side of her straddling a leg. Her left hand found her breast, at first worshipping it in all its beauty and creamy fullness before subtly beginning to rub and then pinch her hard nipple.

Maura watched as Jane's mouth curved into a slow, seductive grin, her tongue grazing the edge of her breast before pulling her nipple with her lips making her ache, needing more, more of her warm mouth.

Her tongue began flickering around in tight insisting circles before she finally settled her head down with a soft moan to suckle.

Maura's chest was heaving as she felt the transition from a kiss into a long, slow suck, pleasure spreading from her breasts through out her body, her mind lost to the sensation. Bliss dissolved down to her core as she watched, her eyes filled with tenderness.

Jane lifted her head to switch to her other breast. "I want you…I want to taste you…fuck you…make you come," her voice was low and hoarse. "I want to hear you…do you know what you do to me?" she pleaded. "Everything inside of me, everything I am…wants you, needs you…"

Jane wiggled down against her body until her mouth found her hips and stomach, unhurried in her attentiveness.

Moaning when she felt teeth nipping at her followed by a soothing tongue and soft lips, Maura's hips were rocking as Jane made her way further down her body.

Holding her dark head she let her hips curl to meet her firm tongue easing her pussy lips apart, bathing her. She can feel her breath and hear her moaning, as Jane tastes her for the first time tonight. Soaked, drenching her face, within minutes Maura began to clench and her hips thrust rhythmically against her mouth. Jane eased her down from her orgasm and knelt back between her legs, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Her hands were shaking as they bent her knees up opening her thighs.

Catching her breath, Maura pushed up on her elbows, her hair messed and her brow sweaty. She reached down to hold her swollen labia open while Jane rubbed the tip of her cock up and down against her clit and then down against her opening.

"Feels so good…want you…inside me…"she encouraged.

Jane knew how hard to thrust… when to roll her hips… when and how to angle herself so Maura would not only feel her inside… but make her pleasure last… suspend it, rocking their bodies in a slow sensual rhythm until she finally would allow her to push against her bucking into her thrusts… and surrender as wave after wave of pleasure burned through her…until with the touch of a thumb on her clit, an explosive rush rocked her head back, lifting her hips off the bed, legs shaking. They called out in unison, voices hoarse, throaty, each trying to give everything they had to the other.

Surrendering to strong arms, Maura caressed her chest, running fingers down her arm. Tucking her face into the curve of her tanned, strong shoulder, breathing in the scent of her…running her hand up through her wild hair, the two of them are now one.


	2. Chapter 2

Next Steps Together Chapter 2

Maura was dressed for work and reading the paper at the breakfast counter when Jane came down the next morning. Kissing her good morning she poured herself a cup of coffee with a grin. It never ceased to amaze her how Maura could stay up half the night carrying on and still get up bright and early the next morning looking like a model.

"Are you going in to the office today?" Maura began packing up her shoulder bag with her already prepared lunch and snacks.

Jane nodded. "Yeah, I'm meeting with Vince for lunch. He comes back from vacation today so we're gonna get caught up and I still have about 10 cold cases to finish reviewing. I'll be back to help Ma get dinner ready." Jane stretched and finished with a yawn.

"Hey, uhm, Maur before you go." She sidled over to her and helped her put her coat on. Wrapping her into a light hug she breathed in her warm, wonderful scent.

"I just wanted to let you know I kind of got into it with my mother yesterday. She was asking about the baby plans and when I jumped ugly with her she started talking about the wedding plans and well, things just really snowballed. I wanted to give you a heads up in case she brings anything up with you. I asked her not to say anything to you or anyone until we had sorted stuff out, especially about the baby but…I kinda hinted that we might…uhm…maybe, we would let her help with the some of the wedding stuff but only after you had decided what you wanted to do first." Jane tucked her chin in and waited with puppy eyes.

Maura sighed and curled into Jane's chest. "That's fine, honey. Why don't we take some time tomorrow for you and I to talk about our ideas and then we can sort out what to tell your mother." She looked up at Jane with a concerned look tugging at her eyebrows. "I'd rather not say anything about the baby yet until after you have had a chance to meet with the doctor to find out what our new options might be. I just don't…"she bent her head down for a moment while Jane rubber her back. "I don't want to tell her I'm not going to carry the baby yet, until we know what we're actually going to do. I'm not ready to be…smothered, and I mean that in the nicest way."

Jane smiled tenderly and kissed the top of her hair, careful not to muss it.

"All right. Before I leave this morning I'll leave a message with the doctor's office at the clinic about setting up an appointment and let you know what they have available."

Maura lifted up on her toes to kiss Jane. She smiled to reassure her that she was ok and headed for the door. "I should be back by 5 but I'll call if I'm going to be later. Don't forget Marta comes to clean at 11 this morning and Javier is dropping off a load of firewood this afternoon. Will you have time to swing by the dry cleaners? We have that function next weekend and you'll need your tux."

'I'm on it, sweetie," she smiled and held the door open for her.

Jane watched out the window until the car turned the corner and then with another big yawn she grabbed her phone and headed upstairs to go back to bed.

"Hi, yeah, this is Jane Rizzoli I'm a patient of Dr. Ashby's. I'm hoping to get an appointment to have some tests done? Tuesday's are best, early morning if you have one. Next Tuesday? Great. We'll see you at 10 am on the 27th.

Maura let the steaming water flow over her infuser, the tea immediately darkening the water. She frowned as she thought about Jane's text. They had an appointment next Tuesday and Jane forwarded the emails from Dr. Ashby's office detailing the tests they would need to perform, basically the same she had done.

Sitting at her desk she thought about working her way through one more pile of folders but she couldn't concentrate. She was afraid Dr. Ashby might likely recommend that Jane not carry even if she is viable. Maura knew the litany of Jane's previous injuries and traumas. There was a very good chance she may not be able to carry to term. Sipping her tea she began a search on her personal laptop for Surrogacy Agencies in New England. She had little knowledge and no experience with the process. Best to prepare so she knew what questions to ask. Just in case.

Dinner ran late that night. Frankie hung out with Jane watching the Bruins game while Maura, Caroline and Angela chatted in the kitchen. Maura was very interested in Caroline's stories about her job as a database specialist for the Partners Healthcare Oncology department. They discovered they knew some of the same people in the health care world.

By 9:30 the game was over and Frankie carried the empty beer bottles and chip bowl into the kitchen. Angela was yawning and looking forward to going to bed early so she said goodnight and headed across the courtyard. Frankie made plans with Jane to meet up for TJ's next skating lesson and followed Caroline out to his car arms loaded with Angela's left overs.

"They seem to be getting serious," commented Maura as she straightened out the magazines on the coffee table.

Jane chuckled. "He's got it bad," she agreed. "Didn't really see the fit at first. She's really bright and a go-getter. I guess he's following in my footsteps," she grinned.

Maura tilted her head, her face a mixture of a frown and a smile.

"Marry up! That's what my Nonna use to tell us." Jane laughed as she checked the door locks and hit the outside lights.

"She would be _so_ impressed, although maybe this wasn't exactly what she had in mind." She laughed when she caught Maura's eye roll and followed her up the stairs.

"Do you think your grandmother would have disapproved of us?"

Shaking her head as she pulled her shirttails out of her jeans, Jane smiled. "No, I think she would have been very happy for me, for us. In a way I think she knew before I did that I wasn't going to follow a traditional path. Not in my job or in my life." She shrugged as she took off her watch and left it on her bureau. She undressed and waited for Maura to finish in the bathroom. She looked forward to just being held and drifting off to sleep. They both had the next day off and neither had made any plans.

Jane woke up to the sound of the shower. She listened for a few minutes before rolling back over and snuggling under the duvet. She drifted off to sleep again until she felt Maura sit on the edge of the bed. She watched her towel off then wrap the towel around her and started to smooth some lotion on her arms and legs, her body glowing from the heat of the shower. Her hair was up in an elegant French knot.

Looking over she sees that Jane is watching her as she pulls the covers back, watching with a tender smile on her face, and inviting her back to bed.

Tilting her head, she arched her eyebrows and with a pointed look glanced over at the clock that read 8:45.

"Do you want some breakfast?" she asked leaning over to kiss her angular face while still snuggled into the pillow.

"Uh-huh," she nods, her glance sliding down to her shoulders and then to her chest. Her eyes paused at the top of the fluffy towel pulling tight over her breasts, her lips parted and her face growing warmer. She pulled the covers back further and leaning over she begins to trace a finger along the edge of the towel.

Inhaling deeply, Maura closes her eyes. "Jane," her voice was a mix of pleading and a gentle, admonishing whisper as she feels her tongue begin to follow the trail of freckles from under her chin down over her chest, lingering now and then to leave sweet kisses or a soft bite.

"Nnnnggh, Jane, you know what that does to me." Sliding closer to her on the bed she stretches out on her side, slowly opening the towel. She loves the look of awe and vulnerability on Jane's face as she looks up from her breasts, dark eyes asking for permission.

Plumping an extra pillow under her head and shoulders to lift herself up she slid an arm under Jane's shoulders. They both look down to see her nipples already darkening, becoming firmer, lengthening. She brushes back the tangled dark curls and kisses her temple before pulling her head closer, fingers combing her hair back, stroking her head.

Jane nestles a leg between hers, rolling closer until she can circle each nipple with her tongue, her hands tucked between them lifting first one breast and then the other to her mouth.

The intimacy and powerful feelings of love are intense almost taking Maura's breath away. She feels Jane begin to suckle with more urgency, her tongue flickering over her nipple as her fingers gently massage her other breast. They can both feel her breasts become heavier, more full. The tender, feminine touch feels so comforting and pleasurable.

Murmuring, whispering, Maura strokes her cheek and watches, her eyes growing heavy as she feels Jane relax and nestle into her, her expression peaceful, as she patiently attends to first one and then the other breast. Her lips and tongue become agonizingly slow as she continues the breast play, circling each nipple before pulling it between her teeth for a soft tug.

Moaning with the bliss washing through her, enjoying the softness of lips and the heat of her mouth on her skin, her hips begin to rock. Her whispers are becoming more ragged as she begins to pant, sliding a leg over Jane's hip, opening herself up to her.

Reaching a hand down over her flexing arm and between them to cup Jane's smaller breast her thumb strumming the erect nipple back and forth. She smiles at the sharp gasp of breath from Jane. Stroking her a bit more firmly she feels Jane's mouth and grip on her own breasts tighten, mirroring her touch. They are both rocking now, Jane's breath coming more harshly against her chest.

Not able to wait any longer, Maura sits up to straddle her waist, rolling her onto her back but Jane is reluctant to let go, her mouth following her breast. Maura leaned forward so she can keep the nipple in her mouth and opened her knees further for Jane's fingers to slide through her wetness just barely pressuring her opening, teasing, circling.

Reaching up she props more pillows under Jane's head to bring her closer letting her recline while she suckles and massages her breasts. After a few minutes she enters her slowly with 2 fingers, swirling her fingers for a few moments feeling Maura already beginning to tighten.

Finding the headboard for leverage Maura begins to ride her long fingers, her abs hunching, pulling and curling her hips, overwhelmed by the sensation of her swollen breasts being tongued and filled now with 3 of Jane's nurturing fingers. After a few more minutes Jane strokes her thumb over silky swirling curls before lightly flicking her clit causing her to arch up. When her orgasm hits, she is tight and throbbing, clinching Jane's fingers hard as she curls into herself, her body taut, eyes closed, softly chanting through clenched teeth, "_Jane, Jane, Jane..."_

Gently retrieving her hand, she pulled Maura down against her, burying her face in her neck, arms holding her tight. They are both damp with sweat and arousal, breathing heavily, intertwined, their hearts slowly recovering as they drift into a blissful sleep.

Later, floating to consciousness, Jane squints at the bright light in the room. Maura is still sleeping peacefully in her arms, her right hand possessively holding her breast, her breathing peaceful. Jane strokes her hair and feels her hand tighten and then relax back into a light sleep.

Trailing her fingers down along her neck and behind to her shoulders she rubs small light circles gently bringing her back to wakefulness.

With a shaky sigh, Maura opens her eyes, blinking at the light in the room.

"Brunch?" she asks in a little voice.

They both burst out laughing, rolling over in the bed, smiling and kissing.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thank you to for the encouraging comments! Glad you are enjoying the story. **Caution**: Adult behavior in this chapter.

Next Steps Together Chapter 3

The week was a blur. There were no major cases but each day brought several bodies to the morgue; all either explained or unattended deaths. Jane spent her days on cold cases before getting a call from Ciara at the FBI asking if she was available to join a local task force involving missing persons. Cavanaugh cleared it on a preliminary basis since the workload at BPD was unusually slow. She had a few days to prepare before the task force would meet next Friday at the FBI offices. Jane was spending her time reading and researching the case. She was also spending more time in the gym after work before going home.

Last Tuesday, standing in front of the dress mirror in the closet Jane frowned as she once again tried to button her slacks. They were pulled taut across her stomach and hips. _What the hell… she thought. _

"Hey Maur, can you come here a minute? She inhaled sharply and buttoned the pants checking to make sure the zipper was up all the way. They definitely looked tight. Felt tight.

"Maur?"

"What is it Jane? I'm trying to get ready for work!" Maura poked her head out of the bathroom wrapped in her robe, her hair in a towel.

"Do these pants look ok? Did the dry cleaners shrink my pants?" Jane turned to face her.

Maura grinned around her toothbrush, her tongue pushing against her cheek eyes twinkling. "I told you to send those leftovers home with Frankie and Tommy," she laughed.

"What? Wait, you're saying I'm putting on weight?"

"Jane you have had extra helpings of bar-b-que brisket and cheddar cheese sandwiches four times a day since the game on Sunday! I heard you last night at midnight getting at it again in the fridge. And you haven't really worked out consistently since vacation. You might… have put on…a few pounds. Which is fine!" She tilted her head with a smile on her face.

Jane sputtered, her face crimson as she pulled her blazer on. "_Fine_? Fine! I'm going to the gym today and the brisket is gone. That was the last of it. Jeeesh, is this what getting old is going to be? I have to watch every little thing I eat?" She went back into the closet to grab her gym bag and sneakers.

Maura put her toothbrush back by the sink and sauntered over pick up Jane's badge and phone. "Want me to meet you at the gym after work, sweetheart?" she asked as she handed them to Jane.

"No! I'm going to be…I don't know…boxing or lifting or that crossfit thing I see the rookies doing." She grabbed her stuff and headed for the stairs.

'I'm not fat!" she yelled from the kitchen.

Maura laughed thinking about the great weekend they had enjoyed. To show her appreciation for Jane escorting her to the Boston Foundation Gala Saturday night Maura had organized the small open house on Sunday for their family and friends from work to come watch the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. She had it catered with incredible brisket sandwiches topped with melted cheddar cheese and bbq sauce, mac and cheese with chunks of lobster, beer and wine, nachos and chili, the works. She had planned it partly to thank their friends who had picked up extra shifts at work so the two could go on vacation after Christmas and then Jane had been so wonderful at the Black Tie Gala on Saturday evening.

Maura was anxious about the evening because this would be a working event for her. The first gala of the New Year, this was the Foundation's first event since the death of the Crowningshields and instead of a fundraiser, this was the Foundations annual recruiting event when many new, young wealthy people were invited to be feted by the philanthropic group in an effort to get them to become significant long term financial partners. A full orchestra was backing special guest Diana Krall at the piano playing her latest songs above a dance floor. It was a full sit down dinner with a mix of old and new potential members as well as the top social and political faces in New England at each table to encourage networking. There were several open bars situated around the venue with endless bottles of champagne at every table. The Foundation was spending money to bring in new money.

Stunning in her black tux, her dark hair up in a messy chignon, a touch of smoky eye makeup, her white silk V-neck blouse open almost to the ruby cummerbund, Jane was breathtaking. She had been reserved and on her best behavior as they stood together greeting people. Several of Maura's closer acquaintances noticed their rings and offered congratulations. Eventually, Maura was commandeered to gather with other Board Members as they cornered the A list guests and Jane could wander off to one of the beautiful, dark oak bars in a corner where a few gentlemen were standing around holding tumblers of scotch.

The bartender came over to her immediately and waited for her order. Before she could decide she felt a hand on her arm.

"Detective Rizzoli? Jane?" She turned to see the Police Commissioner and newly elected Governor Baker standing behind her. All she could do was nod at them, tongue-tied.

"Charlie, this is Detective Jane Rizzoli one of our most decorated homicide detectives in Boston. Jane, Governor Baker." Jane shook hands and thanked the Commissioner, scrambling for something to say.

"Jane just recently got engaged, Charlie. I think you might know her fiancé Dr. Maura Isles."

"Congratulations, Jane!" the Governor's eyebrow arched in appreciation. "Yes, I met Maura a few years ago when I asked her to chair a planning board for Partners Health Care when we took over. She's one the brightest people I've ever met, and her recommendations were one of the reasons we were able to turn the company around so quickly. Is she here tonight?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir." Jane glanced around nervously.

"Well this calls for a celebration! What are you drinking?"

"Ah, I haven't decided." Jane swung back toward the bar where the bartender stood patiently waiting.

"Eddie, let's have that bottle of Walker Blue I know you have under the bar and three glasses."

"Very good sir." The bartender moved down to the end of the bar and came back with a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and set the cut crystal tumblers down next to it.

The Commissioner poured three healthy shots and they held up their glasses in a toast. Jane sipped and a smile spread across her face. The scotch was smooth, smoky and had an incredible finish. It was unlike any scotch she had ever tasted.

The two men watched her take another gulp and broke out in laughter clapping her on the back. She laughed with them and set her glass down which they promptly re-filled. By the time they were on their third glass, a crowd of men had gathered around them and everyone was giving their opinion on what strategy the Patriots would be using against the Colts in the championship game. Jane was voicing her concern about the offensive line protecting Brady when she felt a small hand slide across her lower back and over her hip, as the crowd of men grew suddenly quiet, staring.

"Maura, how great to see you again!" Governor Baker leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I hear congratulations are in order, Commissioner Evans tells us you and Jane are getting married!"

Maura blushed as she thanked the Governor and Commissioner. "Congratulations Charlie on the election, did Lauren get the a note I sent to the house in Swampscott?"

"She mentioned she'd heard from you. I didn't know you'd be here tonight. Are you part of the Foundation?"

Maura nodded as she slipped her hand into Jane's. "Actually, a new Board member this year." She turned toward the group. "You're not going to monopolize my fiancé all evening are you gentlemen? Jane, you haven't asked me to dance yet," she glanced up at Jane with a grin. The crowd of men at the bar stared silently at the two women, stunning in their gorgeous eveningwear. Maura's backless black tulle dress elegantly showcased her curves and perfectly matched Jane's tux.

With a cheeky grin and raised eyebrow, Jane left her tumbler on the bar and held out her arm for Maura to hold. "Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure," she tossed over her shoulder as she guided Maura toward the dance floor. The men continued to stare unsure if they wanted to be Jane or be with her.

They barely made it to the bedroom when they got home, taking only enough time for Maura to hang her gown up. She came out of the closet holding the navy blue box, her cheeks burning.

Jane let her pants drop to the floor and her strong hands slowly began undressing her, unhooking her strapless bra, the cups releasing her firm, full breasts. As her fingers trickle down over her silky nakedness, Jane's eyes swept along her body until their eyes met and she leaned in to kiss her neck, her chin, the side of her mouth.

Tossing the box on the bed, Maura clung to her tightly, knotting her hands in her hair, kissing her back fiercely, and trying to tell her all the things she could not say all evening. How proud she was to be there with Jane by her side, how aroused she became when she saw the way people were watching them dance, laugh and enjoy themselves. How wonderful it felt to be pressed against her on the dance floor.

Jane could feel the softness of her flesh give…heard her gasp as her hipbone leaned into her. She moved them closer to the bed, gently pushing her back so she could step out of her pants and pull the harness on.

She knelt over her on the bed and began to run her hands through her hair, as she rocked her hips watching her rolling back and forth, mouth opened, breasts exposed, her fingers and hands now roaming over her breast slowly, exploring…teasing.

"_Jane, I need…" _her voice faltered as she began to push against Jane.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" Jane's voice was deep, clear. "How much I want you right now? How turned on I've been all night?"

"Thank you…" Maura's voice broke. She swallowed thickly. "Thank you for coming with me tonight. You were…are the most gorgeous…" her eyes began to close as she pushed her hips harder reaching up to fondle Jane's breasts. One hand slid down over her chest and stomach until she felt the dildo and wrapped her fingers and thumb around it, pulling on it gently before pushing it back into Jane. She moved her hand up and down as Jane picked up the rhythm with her hips.

Jane's eyes glazed over as her head fell back and she began to thrust into Maura's hand causing the dido to push back harder against her own clit. With a growl, she sat back up reaching over to the drawer for the lube.

Maura took it from her and began to apply it liberally, still running her fingers up and over her, shortening her strokes and twisting her fingers around the shaft.

Breathing heavily, Jane reached down for her breasts, rolling and caressing her nipples, massaging her, supporting her weight on her knees as she watched Maura's hand slide over the cock.

"Are you ready?" Maura panted, fingers rubbing the tip.

Jane lifted her knee off the bed so Maura could open her legs. She knelt between them and shuffled closer, pushing her thighs apart as Maura bent her knees. Jane leaned over to kiss the inside of her thigh, her tongue trailing up to her core and down her other thigh.

Maura lifted her legs and wrapped them around her waist while Jane's fingers and thumbs were roaming over her mons. She covered Jane's hands with her own as she felt her fingers slowly glide down through her cleft, around her clit and down to her opening. She watched Jane's eyes as she felt two fingers begin to tease her, sliding just inside and then circling lightly.

Reaching down with one hand, Jane brought the tip of the dildo closer, rubbing it lightly around her lips, up over her clit and back down. She gently leaned forward watching as the tip entered her and then rocked back, pressing it down with her hand.

"_Jane_," Maura gasped. "_Nnnnggh_, that feels so good!" She tried to push against her but Jane rested a hand on top of her pelvis holding her still. She continued to circle the dildo just inside her as Maura tried again to pull her hips up.

Slowly, Jane began to slide forward, watching the dildo move further inside until finally her hips were pressed against her bottom.

"_Jesus Maur_," she moaned though clenched teeth as she gave a few careful thrusts. Their hands locked into each other's and Jane began to slowly fuck her with her cock. Their slow, deep rhythm matching the deep breaths filling the bedroom as each tried to memorize how wonderful the moment felt. As her thrusts started to quicken, Jane leaned down to wrap her hands under her shoulders, pulling them closer as she began to kiss and suck on her neck and shoulder.

Wrapping her hands around her neck and dragging fingernails down over her shoulders, Maura urged her on. She crossed her ankles and pulled their hips even closer as she bucked up into Jane, riding her faster until she felt like she was melting away, her body dissolving into hers. She tried to hold off waiting for Jane's orgasm when she heard her suddenly shout and stop thrusting, body shaking, holding her breath, lifting them both off the bed, until finally relaxing her grip and letting them back down gently onto the bed.

Maura held her tightly, rocking gently, kissing her hair, cheek and temple helping her calm down. She could feel tears; happy tears begin to leak from the corners of her eyes as she felt Jane's heart pounding against her chest. She rubbed the back of her neck, stroked her hair and whispered, "I love you" again and again, into her ear.

With great difficulty, Jane pushed up on her elbows until she could see Maura's face. She shook her head slowly, her mouth open, a slight frown on her face.

She exhaled deeply trying to steady her breathing. Her head dropped down and she rested her forehead on Maura's chest for a moment before looking up again, her eyes filled with questions.

"That…was amazing. I have never…been…to that place before. I…can't even describe what that felt like. How do you…?"

Maura smiled and brushed her hair back from her face with her thumbs. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Jane. It felt wonderful for me, too. I think…we were just at the right place at the right time, together."

Slowly, Jane rolled to her side, carefully sliding the dildo out with her hand. She lay back, exhausted, a big smile on her face, too tired to even take the harness off.

Pulling the covers up Maura snuggled against her, pulling an arm under her head and shoulders.

Both slept through the alarm the next morning but with the help of Angela and the caterers they had everything set up by the time the Green Bay game started at 3pm. Everyone had a blast, the food was great, the football games exciting.

Later that night, after the Pats game, Jane fought both of her brothers over the left over pan of brisket even going so far as to sacrifice the lobster mac and cheese. Maura found her eating yet another sandwich around midnight, moaning as she chewed over the kitchen sink.

"Thanks again, Maura for today. This was the best tailgate ever. I had no idea brisket was so delicious with cheese. So glad you ordered this over the ribs. "

Maura reached up to wipe some sauce from her chin with her thumb. "You're welcome sweetheart! But, don't you think you've had enough? Maybe you should save some for your lunches this week?"

"There's plenty left."

"I know. Are you sure you shouldn't have sent some home with your brothers?

"No way! They got the mac and cheese lobster thingy." Jane stabbed another piece of meat in the pan with her fork.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Maura closed up the dishwasher and headed for the stairs.

"Warn me about what? What? Maur, come on, what?" Jane forked another piece of meat and swirled it in the melted cheese.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Jane teams up again with FBI Agent Ciara Ramsey on a case that could change everything. This chapter is rated Mmmm**.** **Warning:** The case deals with kidnapping, assault, and a serial killer.

Next Steps Together Chapter 4

Jane swiped the iPad off pulling out her earphones. She was sitting on a bench outside the conference room at the downtown FBI offices waiting for the meeting inside to end. She was asked by Agent Ciara Ramsey to join an FBI Task Force as the local police liaison from BPD.

Ciara had been vague about the Task Force's specific assignment and Jane's role in the case. She messengered some documents over to Jane to read through and become familiar with the players and processes for a much larger case than the last one they had previously worked on.

She read a file about the National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime and accessed the link for a report from the FBI's 2005 symposium on serial murder cases. One of their agents from the Behavioral Analysis Unit that focused on solely on kidnapping, sexual assault and serial killings would be at the meeting this morning.

The conference room door opened and people spilled out into the hallway. Glancing at her watch she stood up to greet Ciara.

"Thanks for coming Jane. Sorry we're running behind schedule but we should get started in a moment. I'd like you to meet Agent Tom Osborn from California, Agent Angela Tobon from Georgia and Agent Samuel Cross from Quantico. Agent Cross will be leading the Task Force."

Jane shook hands with them, noting they seemed a cut above the usual agents she ran into, more polished, professional. They followed Ciara into the meeting where a young man was putting new name cards on the table. In front of each card was a pale blue 3 ring binder with their name on it. A clipboard with a sheet of paper was being passed around for everyone to sign out a binder. Several other men and women remained in the room freshening their coffee mugs from an urn on the table in the corner.

She found her name card and binder and sat down opening the cover to glance through the first 2 pages that read like boilerplate FBI legalese regarding security and confidentiality. The third page stopped her. This Task Force was created to focus on apprehending a serial killer suspected of kidnapping and killing at least 10 victims, usually in pairs. Jane looked up around the room at the other agents who were talking or reading their binders and tried to catch Ciara's attention but she was busy plugging in a laptop to the projector.

Agent Cross cleared his throat as he stepped behind the podium at the front of the room to the left of the screen and the chatter in the room came to an immediate halt. Jane, like all the others at the table pulled out a pencil and notebook.

She heard phone ping. Pulling off her gloves and pushing back her safety glasses, she slid the phone out of the pocket of her scrubs and swiped the screen to read a text.

_**Dinner at 6:00?**_

Glancing at her watch she texted back. _**Lovely. How about sushi? Where are you?**_ She had not heard from Jane since she left the house that morning for the Task Force meeting.

_**FBI. Took the T. Take out or go out?**_

_**Zen? Corner of Beacon and Bowdoin. I'll pick you up?**_

_**Thanks.**_

Maura frowned for a moment reading the clipped responses. Jane was never wordy but usually there was something a little more personal. She was curious to hear about this new assignment and why the meeting had taken all day. Jane liked working with Agent Ramsey on their last case, a child kidnapped and found murdered but she was still not a fan of the FBI. Perhaps the meeting had not gone as expected.

She would have just enough time to get changed and fight traffic to get across town to the FBI building. Tapping the reservation app on the phone she typed in the time and location for dinner pocketed the phone and headed for her office to get changed.

Jane swirled the glass of plum wine, not sure how she felt about the taste. She was expecting something sweeter, glad that it was not.

"They have Japanese beer if you'd prefer," Maura peeked over her menu.

"No, this is fine. How was your day?" Jane swung around in her chair crossing a leg over her knee, her foot pedaling the air. Her fingers moved the bottom of the wine glass in circles on the table.

Maura put down her menu. "Two autopsies both from unattended deaths. One was a homeless man who died in his sleep at the Pine Street Inn shelter, the other a 56 year-old woman from East Boston found by her daughter. She had advanced pancreatic cancer which apparently the daughter did not know about." Maura shook her head. "It was quiet with no one coming down to ask me about any cases. I was just finishing when you texted." She tilted her head, waiting patiently for Jane to finish looking around the restaurant and make eye contact.

"Is there anything you can tell me about your Task Force? About the meeting?" She reached slowly across the table placing two fingers on top of Jane's to still the wine glass.

Jane's eyes roamed slowly before returning to her eyes. She pulled her top lip in with her teeth and sighed, sitting back in her chair, both feet back on the floor, hands in her lap.

"It's a murder case. Or cases. A serial killer who they suspect kidnapped those two college students who went missing from here last month."

The state police had taken over the investigation because it happened on state property at the UMass Boston campus. They both had followed the case through back channels – then it made national news. No ransom call was made; no suspects had ever been identified, no apparent motive, no trace of them anywhere. Rewards were being offered for any information about their disappearance.

Maura waited to see if there was more. They looked up as their waitress set the appetizers on the table and took the order for their main meal. Jane had a quick sip of her wine, resumed the circling.

"How many?" Maura asked.

"At least ten. Spread out from here to California. They think he started in California and Nevada. The earliest known case was 5 years ago.

"Is it…is it similar to Hoyt, is that why they need you?" Maura wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer. Her hands were folded on the table, knuckles white.

Jane shook her head, frowning. "No. I don't think so. Maybe," she shrugged. These are kidnap, rape and murder cases but there is something else going on here. They want me to be the local scene of crime person and just look over the case from a broader perspective. I think Ciara thought my work on the kidnap case in New Hampshire, the local input, was helpful. I told her that it was you who made the connection in that case. You should be the one working with them." Jane went back to swirling the wine glass. She leaned over the table, lowering her voice.

"Ciara thinks you will be brought in eventually because they don't think this guy is going to stop anytime soon and he is probably still in the area. They think the bodies will be found here." Jane shrugged. "She knows I'll be talking to you anyway about this. I think she's hoping we are a two for one deal whether it's official or not."

Maura squeezed a wonton, dipping it lightly in the sauce. Jane was showing a higher level of stress than expected for someone who was asked to merely take a broader look at a crime scene. She looked around and realized how crowded the restaurant had become.

"It sounds like you had a long day." Maura tried to read Jane's face.

Clearing her throat, Jane leaned in again. "Part of the meetings…were…ah…they said we had to…" her voice trailed off. Shaking her head, she began again. "Everyone has to take go through some Behavioral training." She finished her wine pushing the glass away.

Maura chewed slowly trying to translate what Jane meant. She stopped suddenly, closing her eyes for a moment and put her chopsticks down.

"You had a psychological review to determine your compatibility with the Behavioral Unit." Her voice was low but firm.

"It's OK. I'm fine. It was fine. Just wasn't expecting it. Didn't know that would be part of the deal."

"Jane, it is standard procedure now for high level cases involving...potentially difficult outcomes."

"Yeah, it's fine. Just, didn't have time to really prepare myself. They had my file, they knew my background, and it wasn't just me. They have three other non-Feebs on the Task Force and we all had to go through it, even the administrative types. It wasn't just…because of what happened with…Hoyt."

Maura nodded. "They have learned from past experience that everyone who works these cases is impacted to some level. Rather than try to deal with it after the fact with post case counseling they have started to do intentional analytical testing prior to letting agents work on any cases that may be…damaging."

Jane shook out her napkin and looked around for the waitress to order another drink. "Well, I must have passed because I'm still on the Task Force. Maybe that's why Ciara asked for me. Because I've been able to handle…stuff."

Maura sighed. Now she knew why Jane was a bit off tonight and she was concerned about what this case could do to Jane emotionally.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart that you had to go through that."

Jane sat up straighter, reaching across to hold her hand. "I'm fine. Just wasn't prepared to dredge some of that stuff up again."

Maura nodded and then smiled tenderly, linking their fingers.

"Why don't we talk about it at home. I'm sure you're tired. Let's take a break from it for now. Are you taking TJ skating in the morning?"

Jane thought for a moment, blinking. She looked up with a small, grateful smile tugging at her lips. Nodding, she picked up her chopsticks, pulling a plate closer to her. "This looks good, is it the soft shell crab tempura?"

They were home by 8 o'clock. She left the living room lights on low, the TV screen casting shadows around the room. Scrolling through the DVR menu Jane looked for something to watch before _Blue Bloods_ came on at 10. ESPN and NESN were driving her crazy with the constant talk about the "Deflategate" controversy over the Patriots letting the air out of the balls in the game against Indianapolis. Talking heads…knuckleheads.

She clicked on _Elementary_ knowing Maura had missed the latest episode the night before. Besides trying to solve the cases first and pointing out the medical inconsistencies the Doctor was intrigued with the relationship between Sherlock and Watson. Jane also suspected she might have a thing for Lucy Liu.

Maura set the tray of steaming tea mugs and a plate of shortbread cookies on the coffee table grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch. She had changed into an ivory silk camisole under her long sleeved Henley shirt, a pair of baggy sweats, and the fleece socks Jane had given her for Christmas. She'd washed up and moisturized, her cheeks glowing, ready to brush her teeth after they had tea and cookies before going to bed.

Picking up the remote she muted the sound. "Do you want to talk about the case or should I look at the file first and then we can talk?"

Jane watched the silent television for a moment. "I think I'd like to have you look at it first...get your initial reaction. I read it a couple of times today, it may take awhile to get through." She leaned over to pick up the plate of cookies. "You don't need to do it tonight. If you have time tomorrow, maybe we can talk when I get back from skating. The task force doesn't meet again until Monday morning."

"I'm getting my hair and nails done at 9 so I'll be back around noon. Are you taking TJ to lunch after skating?"

"Yeah, Frankie's meeting us, we'll grab lunch in town somewhere and then Frankie can drop him off at Tommy's. I should be home by 1."

Maura reached over for a cookie, clicking the remote and the sound came back on as they settled back to watch. She could sense Jane was still preoccupied, in her head, tense.

"I'm not sure about Watson working for this insurance company. It seems inevitable that she and Sherlock will end up together but the writers are certainly making them jump through hoops." She offered Jane the plate of cookies.

Jane sighed, a smile tugging her lips, grateful for Maura's attempt at getting her out of her dark thoughts. She snatched a couple of cookies and wrapped her other arm around her, pulling her closer into her side. "Kind of like us, huh? Took us forever to figure out…this, according to Korsak. Well, everyone."

Maura sipped her tea. "I remember we spent a lot of Friday nights like this, together on this very couch…a lot…for two co-workers," she grinned.

"Hmmm." Jane dropped her head back, eyes closed, smiling. "I always knew, deep down, that I had feelings for you…it seemed like I thought about you first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Remember how crazy I got whenever you went on a date. Secretly glad when you never seemed serious about the people you went out with, even the ones I knew you slept with. I was just too scared to do anything about it."

"You know," Maura paused to nibble a cookie. "I was celibate for almost a year before we moved on from best friend co-worker status to lovers." Maura grinned over her teacup.

Jane's eyebrows arched. "You must have owned stock in Duracell or Everyready…for you know…your small hand held appliances." She grimaced waiting for the pretend shock and admonishment.

Maura just laughed, setting her teacup down trying not to spill it. "Actually, I think I might have been depressed for part of that period. I was trying to figure out why I wanted to spend so much time with you rather than with the people who were actually asking me out. Once I realized I felt more for you than just a co-worker or friend, I didn't think you felt the same so I was sorting out how to be in your friend zone while still carrying a torch for you. I decided I could live without the sex but I could not live without the way you made me feel."

Jane shook her head. "I was such a fool." She leaned over to kiss her hair and rub her shoulder. Threading her fingers with Maura's she brought their hands up in front, their engagement rings catching the light. She left a soft kiss on her fingertips.

"You were never in my 'friend zone', Maura. I felt something for you from the beginning, but I had no idea how to do…this. I needed to grow up and I will never stop thanking my lucky stars that you didn't give up on me."

Maura tucked her head against her neck and shoulder. She brushed the crumbs off the front of Jane's shirt before pulling the blanket up over them. "I hope Watson waits for Sherlock to come to his senses," she sighed.

Jane chuckled. "It's kind of creepy isn't it…imagining him having sex with… anyone. Especially with what's her name, Irene, that must have been batshit crazy, way outside the lines."

Maura smiled as she nuzzled her neck and began to stroke her hips and abs, tugging her shirttails out. "I'm not unlike Sherlock, in many ways, Jane. We are both socially awkward, driven by intellectual pursuits, obsessed with problem solving, unsure with human interaction."

"Yes, but you are incredibly…_gifted_…in some of your…human interactions," Jane laughed, blushing.

"Every couple has their own way of connecting, Jane," she whispered close to her ear. "The intimacy of knowing oneself, one's likes and desires, being open to another's likes and desires can be intensely…loving. Sometimes…I imagine you, imagining me and I get…warm…all over."

"Huh. Interesting." Jane smiled into her hair. "I think I need to hear more about what you imagine I…imagine…about you," her voice lowered.

Maura had her oxford dress shirt unbuttoned and was drawing intricate patterns across her bra cups and along her stomach. She pulled her knees up onto the couch so she was straddling her lap. "Lay back and I'll tell you." She reached over to put a pillow under Jane's head and shoulders as she swung her long legs up on the couch.

Gentle hands tugged unbuckling her belt, and then her pants, dragging the zipper down. She pulled Jane's shirt further apart, admiring the fit of the new Bali bra she had bought for her.

Jane lifted her hips so she could help slide her pants down over her legs.

Scooting higher until she was straddling her waist, her knees on either side of her, she tucked her feet behind her on Jane's thighs.

She began with soft kisses along her throat, her jawline, then up to her temple, brushing her hair back from her face. She smiled into her warm dark eyes as she began rolling her hips. Smoothing her hands lightly over her chest, her fingers teased already hard nipples through the soft black bra.

Jane rocked her hips up, pressing her mons into her, her panties already damp. Caressing Maura's ankles and calves as she rocked back and forth rubbing on her, pressing into her.

Untying the pale pink sweats, Jane tugged them down over her hips so she could slide her hands under silk panties and squeeze her firm bottom, pulling her tighter, rubbing harder against her pelvis.

Maura lifted her Henley up over her head and dropped it on the floor. They both looked at her nipples poking through her camisole, her breasts stretching the fabric tight across her chest. She leaned down to trace soft, eager lips with a firm tongue before sliding in to explore her mouth. They kissed deeply, Jane holding her face with strong hands, angling their heads so she could reach as much as possible. She broke the kiss to look down at their hips, at Maura rocking against her. Taking her hands off Maura for a moment she gently pulled her ring off her hand placing it on the coffee table.

With a grin, pressing her hands against her chest, Maura lifted up enough so Jane could slide a hand between them, rubbing her fingers along the now wet panel of her underwear. Flattened fingertips circled slowly causing her to rock again, a soft humming sound escaping her lips.

Sliding the thin camisole straps over her shoulders down to her waist, she slowly uncovered her breasts, watching Jane's eyes. Her thighs rippled as she slid back and forth on firm abs, hearing Jane's breathing deepen as she held her by her hips, helping them to push into each other.

Reaching down to pull her panties aside, her other hand guided Jane's over soft auburn curls to her clit, smiling, watching her eyes flutter as her warm arousal wet her fingers.

"Mmmm, that feels so good, Maur…I love touching you, feeling you, so warm, so soft." Both of them were breathing in short huffs as they curled into each other, Jane's fingers moving up and down her labia, pressing her lips open. Maura's eyes closed with a sharp intake of breath.

"M-hmmm, so good, so good," she breathed. They rocked together for a few minutes, smiling at each other in the soft glow, whispering, encouraging each other until Jane sensed a quickening in the pace. She swallowed, waiting patiently.

"Jane," her voice uneven now, "can you…inside…please?"

Jane's hips arched up at the words, her own panties soaking as she watched two fingers slowly disappear inside. As Maura lowered herself down all the way onto her hand, Jane pressed her other hand lightly across her lower pelvis.

Maura's head snapped back in pleasure, hips held still. "_Jesus, _Jane…" She covered her hand with her own, pressing harder, "hnnngggghhh, vous, vous sentez si bon, si bon, je veux tellement, me faites venir Jane, vous me faites ... "*

Jane fought to keep her eyes open not wanting to miss any of this, bliss washing over her.

Resuming her rocking motion, Maura slipped her thumbs up under her little bra. Pushing it up carefully over pert dark breasts, gently ghosting her fingertips all around her nipples and breasts bringing another moan of appreciation from Jane.

Her moan became a soft growl as her right hand moved to massage and cup her bottom rising and falling on her fingers, watching the blush spreading across her freckled chest, her areolas darkening, her nipples hard and pink.

"Beautiful," she sighed rising up to flick just the tip of her wet tongue around her nipple. She could feel Maura holding her breath, trying not to move her breast away from her tongue, her eyes closed, her mouth open. She heard her voice; soft, delicate "I need you…"

"Lean down," she whispered pressing a hand against her back. "Let me…make them…feel better." Pulling a nipple in with wet lips, using the flat of her tongue to circle it, kiss it. Jane moaned into her firmness, licking all around the swollen tip before finally sucking it into her mouth.

Fingers tightened in her dark thick hair holding her head to her breast. Maura could barely keep her eyes open, her breathing ragged as she felt her suckle and swallow, doing magical things with her mouth and tongue.

Jane curled and stiffened her fingers, anchoring her hand as she let Maura adjust the angle of her hips to find the best spot. She felt her vagina begin to widen so she added a third finger while reaching over with her thumb to tease her clit. She felt it throb for a few moments and then suddenly retract.

Crying out, Maura clamped hard around her fingers, stomach clenching, contractions pulling her hips up hard, her legs squeezing her waist, trembling.

Bucking hard onto Jane's hand, she leaned forward holding her face and the nape of her neck to keep her mouth pressed to her breast. She bucked once, twice a third time and then held still.

"_Jane, Jane, J a n e…" _drawing out her name as her contractions slowed.

Slowly, just barely able to stroke in the warm tightness, Jane felt moisture trickling around her fingers onto her hand.

Gently lifting up off of Jane's hand, pressing it to her, cupping her for a few moments, she groaned as she slithered down along her body until she could rest her head against her warm chest, nuzzling with a satisfied smile.

"Don't let me forget to brush my teeth."

Jane grinned, dizzy with the glow of a job well done. Pulling the blanket over them, wrapping her arms and legs snugly around her, she whispered, "I love you." She left her lips against her head, murmuring more words of love until she felt Maura relax and begin to drift off, safe in her arms.

"Just as I imagined," was the last thing she heard.

**AN2**: *sort of a French translation " You feel so good, so good, I want you so much, make me come Jane, you make me…"


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **A little about the case before we can get to the good bits. (Rated M) Reminder-this is all make believe. I know little to nothing about software programs or the FBI. **WARNING**: Kidnapping, assault, and murder are discussed. Based on a real case from the 1980's.

Next Steps Together Chapter 5

Maura closed the binder exhaling and reaching up to massage her neck and shoulders. She hadn't realized how tense she had become. Her tea was ice cold so she put the kettle back on and took out some containers to make a salad. There were left overs from their dinner last night she could add.

She understood now why Jane had been put through the Behavioral Unit psychological testing. There were too many similarities to the Hoyt case.

The shrill whistle of the kettle startled her out of her thoughts. She poured her tea and brought her lunch over to the table where she had been reading and making some notes.

The FBI believed Mary Ann Sawler 20, and Cole Minett 21 were likely abducted from the University Massachusetts Boston campus in the early hours of December 14th as they left a party. Friends last saw them heading to their car across a dimly lit parking around 1:30am. They could not recall if there were any other cars near them in the lot. No one remembered seeing them drive away as they had jumped on the all night shuttle van that would take them to the campus T stop. Neither student showed up for classes Monday and the car was not in the lot Monday afternoon when friends began to look for them. Campus police investigated and then on Wednesday their parents called in the State Police when they still had not turned up.

Two weeks later an agent stationed at the Savannah, Georgia FBI Cyber office was scrolling through weekly stats about open cases and read the report of the missing students. She added it to a data management project she was running.

Agent Angela Tobon had created a software program for managing data from seemingly unconnected cases from across the country and around the world as part of a project for her work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico. She was a cyber specialist with six years of experience in the field before deciding to join the BAU. With two computer science degrees from MIT she belonged to the wave of brilliant analysts being snapped up by the FBI, Homeland Security and Military Intelligence.

Tobon was in love with problem solving, seeing how random data, numbers, words, events might fit together to create patterns. She was one of the new generation of cypher detectives who would have fit right in at Bletchley Park.

In fact, Tobon had done her Master's on Alan Turing's enigma project at Bletchley focusing on Banburismus Procedures for forming neural computational connections from sensory stimuli. Turing had named the procedure after the small Oxfordshire town where the special punched paper Turing used to feed information into his machine was produced. Tobon named her program Banbury.

On any given day there were thousands of open cases involving homicide, kidnapping, and assault in this country. Tobon had created a program that could sort and manipulate the data from these cases looking for connections. When combined with data from all other cases in the system, the program would pull out trends and similarities. The program made use of several existing programs used by the FBI like VICAP for collecting behavioral, forensic and investigative data.

The difference with this program was its ability to weight factors in the database based on interpreted importance. It would continually search the data being entered from around the world looking to make connections wherever possible.

On a Monday early in January Agent Tobon was going through stacks of new data packets to be entered when she came across the case of the missing college students in Boston. She entered the details into the main drive and moved over to a smaller desktop to look up the next new case when her program began to talk to her.

Little pings, boings and tinkles sounded. Sound effects she had embedded to let her know when the program made certain connections. Swiveling back to the larger monitor she watched as the program began to rapidly pick and choose information and file it away into new folders, color-coding them for her. The sounds increased until suddenly the program stopped. The cursor was blinking silently at the bottom of a page, waiting for her to feed it more data.

She clicked on one of the new folders. Karly Vallon age 17 and Rachel Schafer age 16, kidnapped, assaulted and found murdered in California five years ago. Kippi Vaught age 17 and Rhonda Scheffler 16 kidnapped, assaulted and murdered almost 40 years ago in the same California County, less than 10 miles away.

The second folder read Britney Juett age 14 and Sarah Coakley age 14, kidnapped, assaulted, murdered in California four years ago. Brenda Judd 14 and Sandra Colley 13, kidnapped, assaulted, murdered in California forty years ago.

A third folder read Susan Radney, 17 and Kelsey Tenny 16 kidnapped, assaulted, murdered in Nevada three years ago. Stacey Redican 17 Karen Twiggs 16 kidnapped, assaulted, murdered in Nevada forty years ago.

There were 2 more folders tying recent cases to ones from 35-40 years ago, same MO, locations, similar names and ages.

The last folder included the information she had just entered on two missing college students from Boston matching it with Mary Beth Sowers and Craig Miller 2 college students who went missing from California 35 years ago later found assaulted and murdered.

In each of the recent cases, the names and ages of the victims were similar and the method of murder was almost identical to the cases from forty years ago committed by a husband and wife by the name of Guarrero.

The biggest variant in the data was the location of this last case. Why Boston?

Topon worked through the night tracking down more information on each of the new and old cases, sorting and entering the details until close to 2 am. The last thing she did before turning out the lights was to email her project leader at Quantico. Her message read simply: _Banbury: Code Red._

Within a day, Topon was flown to Quantico and the Task Force was created.

Jane banged the door shut with her foot calling out "I'm home!" Her arms were wrapped around grocery bags. "It is freezing out there! Maur? Are you home?" She dropped the bags on the kitchen counter and shrugged out of her coat.

"Up here, honey!"

Jane kicked off her boots and grabbed a kitchen towel to quickly wipe up her wet footprints before heading upstairs to the office.

"How was skating?" She offered her cheek to Jane for a kiss, finishing up a report on her computer. Jane left her cell phone on her desk with the day's photos and videos of TJ at the rink and went into the bedroom to get changed.

"Sorry I'm late. Some of the Dad's from the class want to get a pick up game going next weekend after the skate lessons so I stopped off to get a new stick and some gear. I can't believe how expensive that stuff is!" She kept up the conversation from the bedroom as she got changed out of her sweats.

"I'm gonna have to choose between paying for TJ's college education or playing ice hockey."

She frowned at the lack of response. Poking her head back in the office she pulled out her hair tie, shaking her head. "You're…ah…hair looks great! I like the highlights, it looks…softer?" She was reaching here, out of her depth.

Maura closed out of her work folder and swung her chair around with a smile.

"Thank you sweetie! I thought I would go lighter. I liked how it look after being in the sun on vacation." She scrolled through the pictures on the phone, smiling. "He's getting so much better! Look at him go!"

"Yeah, it's organized chaos. Those squirts have a blast going as fast as they can then crashing into each other, into the boards, into me. Hate to think what happens when they actually get some sticks in their hands."

"Your sure his helmet is certified? You know the danger of concussion is just as high …"

"He'll be fine, Maur. Hey, I picked up some stuff to make dinner tonight. How do you feel about tortellini with a light cream sauce with baby Portobello mushrooms and black forest ham?"

"Mmmm, what's the occasion? Are we having company?"

"No, just us. I thought we could have a quiet night in before this case starts taking up all my time." They headed down to the kitchen.

"I read the file on your case Jane, do you want to go over it now? I was going to do some yoga but that can wait."

"No, go ahead, do your thing and we can get caught up later. I'm gonna put the groceries away and do some more research, check in with Vince on what I missed yesterday at the office. I have some stuff to bring over to Ma's from DeLucas. Unless…are you gonna do that yoga voga thingy again? I wouldn't mind watching that." Jane leered, wiggling her eyebrows.

"No," she replied haughtily with an eye roll, blushing. "I'm just stretching and…relaxing. My neck is stiff…I must have slept funny last night." She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and headed for the stairs.

Jane had come home one night to find Maura in the yoga studio doing what she claimed was Voga…yoga to dance music, voguing.

"I'm just teasing! C'mon, Maur…I love Madonna!"

Dinner was ready to be served by the time Maura came back down stairs refreshed and glowing from her shower.

"Mmmm, garlic bread too?" She ran a hand over Jane's butt on the way to get a bottle of wine for the table, her earlier teasing forgiven.

"Feeling better?"

"Much. I may have needed the nap more than the stretching. How's Angela?"

"Fine. She brought up the wedding plans again. We're going to have to sit down eventually and come up with some kind of plan before she takes over, you know that, right?" Jane brought the bowls of tortellini over to the table. "And she wants to know what the schedule is for the Super Bowl next Sunday. What time do you want people to come over?

"Oh, is it next Sunday? Isn't the game at 1?" She twisted the corkscrew and pulled the cork out with a pop.

"_Honey_," Jane whined with exasperation. "It's the _Super_ Bowl! The Pats are playing! National Holiday? Holy Day of Commercials? Game time 6pm?"

Maura grinned, biting her lip, eyes shining with laughter as she poured the wine.

Jane huffed. "Nice, fine, you got me. Well played, you. Grab the bread while you're up, will you?" She grinned, secretly loving it when Maura teased her.

"That was delicious Jane. Your sauce came out really well. I liked the ham with the mushrooms." She wiped her lips before sipping her wine.

Jane smiled crookedly, pleased with the compliment, helping herself to the last piece of garlic bread.

"Your case…do you want to talk about it?"

"How about I put some coffee and tea on? We can clear the dishes and I'll take you through what I found out this afternoon?"

An hour and a half later, Maura closed the file and sat back, a hand over her mouth. "This is…so unbelievable. Someone has been abducting and murdering people by copying cases from 40 years ago?"

"I know. The whole thing is kind of crazy. I feel like I'm watching an episode of the X Files."

In 1978 in Sacramento, California, Gerry and Christine Guarrero began what would later be called The Sex Slave Murders. He was a juvenile offender whose father had been executed by the state of Mississippi. She was a drug addict from a well to do family. He had been in and out of jail his whole life. Christine Wilkes was a brilliant student who got hooked on drugs in high school and had been divorced twice by the time she was 20 and met Gerry.

According to Christine, he forced her to pick up or entice young women to get in their van or come to their apartment where he would make her watch him rape them and then drive them out to the desert where he would kill them and bury their bodies. It was unclear what her role was in the assaults although forensic evidence suggested she had participated in some of the assaults. Their first two victims were just 16 and 17 years old.

After the first murder they changed their names and moved to Reno where they abducted, raped and killed another pair of girls. By 1980 they were back in Sacramento where they killed a third pair of girls. That same year they went on vacation to Oregon and killed a young pregnant woman. Back in Sacramento, they killed a woman who was a bartender at a local club. They were questioned by police but not held.

Two months later they killed a young couple, college students. They were questions much more closely by police this time so they went on the run but were caught in Omaha, Nebraska when Christine contacted her parents asking them to wire her money. After years of enabling Christine, her parents decided they had had enough and contacted the authorities. FBI agents were waiting for them at the Western Union office.

Christine confessed that Gerry had murdered the girls and made her watch. She was sentenced to 17 years in prison in return for her testimony. Gerry received 2 death sentences, one in California and one in Nevada. Guerrero had a re-trial in 1999 but was again sentenced to death for 4 of the six murders. He died of rectal cancer in 2002 in a Nevada prison medical center.

Christine Wilkes Guarrero served 17 years in prison and was released in 1997. She reportedly re-married and was now living outside of Sacramento, California as Mary Manella.

Jane closed up her laptop and put the binder back in her briefcase. "The FBI have no real evidence in any of the recent cases. If the computer hadn't picked up on the similarities we would never have known. He's good, very good. No forensic evidence, nothing, except he seems to be leaving his victims to be found, as if he wanted the connection to be made."

"So they think its just one person, not another team?"

"I don't think they know. I think they are just going off of a basic, standard profile from the BAU. White male, mid thirties, lives alone or with a wife, unremarkable except for being well organized, smart."

"Have they contacted Christine, this Mary Manella?"

Jane nodded, finishing her coffee. "Agents are out there now interviewing her and anyone else with connections to those older cases. She'd be in her late 50's; her mother still lives in the area. Guarrero had a daughter from a former relationship but she went into foster care after he was charged with raping her and a friend when she was 14 years old. Christine and Gerry had a son born in 1981 while she was in prison, he was raised by her parents, the Wilkes."

"What about the police and the FBI who investigated the original murders?"

Jane shrugged. "Everything is being looked at. Fortunately, there's quite a bit of information because the case was sensationalized in the media. There were true-crime books written about 'the Sex Slave Murders.' We're suppose to get the latest updates in the meeting on Monday."

She got up to bring their mugs into the kitchen. "There's really not much for me to do until they find these two UMass students. According to their time frame, he's had them longer than he's kept any of his other victims, or he's hidden them much better. The other victims were all found within a week of their abduction. Maybe he's done. The two college students were the last ones killed by the Guarreros."

"Are you ok with this, Jane? The case notes are pretty graphic in describing the assaults and murders. The similarity to Hoyt is uncanny."

Jane leaned against the sink for a moment. "Remember how thought I was the most frightened I'd ever been in my life when Hoyt escaped and was coming after me? That was until he held both us captive in the infirmary at the prison and was going to…hurt you." Wiping her hands on the dishtowel she turned to face her crossing her arms and legs.

"I know people are capable of doing unbelievably heinous things to others. That they are sick, twisted, broken human beings. No one really understands how they think or why, or how they got that way. I think…ending…Hoyt and saving you helped give me a sense of balance. I'll never understand why he came after me because these people are just…broken. They have such a warped sense of reality. If there's any way I can help put away another monster, I want to. And I will do everything I can to never put you in danger again, ever. "

Maura went to her, rubbing her hands up and down her tight arms, gently tugging them free from her chest. She wrapped them around her waist and reached behind to pull her closer tucking her head under her chin. She could feel her body humming with tension.

"Maybe this will be the end. Maybe he's taken them out of state. I would not be unhappy if this was the extent of your involvement in this case. But if you do get involved, I'll be here, if you need to talk about things or need my help."

Jane hugged her, leaving a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks," she sighed, relaxing into her hug.

"Are we all set for your appointment on Tuesday with Dr. Ashby?"

Jane smiled. "Yeah…except it's at the crack of dawn. I'll have a better sense of my schedule for next week once I meet Monday with Ciara but I already told her and Cavanaugh that I needed Tuesday until noon off so we're good."

"Maybe we'll have some good news to tell your Mother," Maura smiled impishly.

"Do you think we should at least pick a date for the wedding? Especially if you're going to be knocking me up?"

Maura dropped her arms, leaning back, her face slack, and her mouth hung open.

"What? Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything, Maur. It was a joke. I'm sorry, honey."

Maura burst out laughing.

"Knock _you_ up? Me? Are you having more gender confusion? Jane, you realize you are engaged to someone most people would consider a 'femme' I believe is the term often used."

Jane tied not to laugh, biting her cheek. "So, what does this make me again? I keep forgetting who I'm supposed to be. Am I the big bad butch who carries you off over my shoulder back to the cave to have my way with you? Fine. I'm good with that."

Maura arched an eyebrow and tilted her head, shaking it slowly, a smile pulling at her lips. "Oh, honey…" She ran her hands up the front of Jane's chest, slowly, brushing over her breasts, trailing along her collarbones. She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a throaty whisper. "I love being the girl in this relationship…but don't, for even a moment, forget that if I wanted to, I would fuck you hard against a wall and then take you out for a lovely dinner. And. You. Would. Love. It."

Jane's breathing deepened. "Oh my."

She swallowed, clearing her throat as they stared at each other.

"Well, we've had a lovely dinner.

Know any good walls?"

Jane was laughing as they stumbled up the stairs, her shirt and bra trailing behind them, playing along as Maura suddenly pushed her up against the wall outside their bedroom. A tongue circled each nipple insistently, paying careful attention to the tender erect flesh. Other fingers moved lower, inside her unbuttoned pants, wet warmth already beginning to coat her fingers. A fingertip found her erect clit and gently circled, caressing all around it, other fingers opening her labia. She watched Jane's eyes begin to flutter.

Maura bent down, her mouth following the path of her fingers down over her chest and ribs. Scattering kisses across the flat of her belly, leaving light little bites along her angular hips, her tongue dragged down to the top of her mons. Her hands pulled pants and panties down over taut thighs.

Jane reached down, running her hands over Maura's neck and shoulders feeling for her breasts but her hands are pushed away, pressing her back against the wall.

Kneeling, her lips move to the inside of long, lithe thighs, hands exploring every inch of skin they can reach before traveling around to the curve of her bottom pulling her thighs tighter to her mouth. Fingertips inched closer, massaging, pulling her cheeks apart until Jane clenched tightly, a warning, a reminder that this is off limits. Maura looks up nodding, hazel eyes accepting the message.

Opening her legs, Jane is no longer laughing, barely able to breathe. Dropping her head back and bracing her self with bent knees her hand grips a shiny, soft blonde head.

Maura paused, eyes closed, letting her scent surround them.

There are no words for Jane to describe how her body is responding...to the heat of her breath, the softness of her lips, kisses indistinguishable from her own wetness. She tries to swallow the growls that follow each touch of a little tongue exploring her folds, keeping her on the edge.

Dizzy from the way Jane is responding to her touch, Maura slows her tongue and hands allowing time for the crescendo to build then recede, again and again. Her lips are reading the story of Jane's arousal until it's impossible to hold back any longer. Looking up she sees her head bobbing up and down as if urging her to go faster, a grimace on her face.

When the wave begins her legs snap shut around her head then shake while Maura's tongue moves from her clit to just outside her opening causing her hips to grind against her mouth, her knees to buckle.

Maura tries to still her own hips; she can feel her panties dampening.

As her vagina starts to contract Maura slips the tip of a finger just barely inside, pushing down gently. Crying out, Jane clenches harder, feeling Maura moan into her.

Reaching behind to hold onto her bottom Maura tries again to push into the tightness. Turning her hand over she curls her finger rubbing back and forth as contractions increase, her entrance clamped even tighter around her finger. Muscles in her belly are clenching and relaxing in time with her thrusts and the tongue circling her around her cleft.

"Oh God, yes…coming, you're making me come, Maur," she hisses, her hips surging up, hunching against her mouth. A powerful wave slammed her back against the wall and her knees buckle again. "Jesus, Maura!" she cries out, eyes squeezed tight, mouth open. Every muscle in her body is pulsing rhythmically.

Maura trembles, kissing the curls on her mons as her finger is held snug, sharing every pulse, a hand holding tight to her clenched bottom. She moves to kiss and press her mouth against her abs as Jane curls down, hands running down over her back and shoulders, stroking her hair, catching her breath.

Soft kisses and licks continue until a tremulous voice asks her to stop, "please, please...baby, no more, please."

Exhaustion has set in and she is spent. Pulling Maura up off her knees, holding her tight she leans them back against the wall. Blissful.

After several minutes they both try to straighten up, pulling up Jane's pants and leaning on each other they stumble in to the bedroom. Maura gently lays her down and then undresses them both in the light from the bathroom before sliding in under the covers, pulling Jane on top of her.

Their legs immediately intertwine. Nose to nose, Jane combs her damp hair off of her forehead, fingers trailing over her head. She leans down then backs away, watching Maura's grin widen. She shivers at the feel of fingernails lightly scratching up and down along her spine, their breasts moving against each other as they breathe. Gently, she lowers her head again and pulls her lower lip between her own, turning her head slightly, their tongues meet before she moves on to her upper lip, tugging lightly before covering her mouth with her own for a deeper kiss.

Without letting go, she slowly slides off of her to the side, her thigh lifting Maura's leg up over her hip as she cups her breasts with both hands, holding her nipples in the v of her thumbs and fingers.

Maura pulls back to breath as Jane lifts one, then the other breast to her lips, just the tip of her wet tongue circling around a nipple, stimulating it before taking it deep into her mouth.

"Mmmm...I like that." Maura voice is warm and loving as she strokes her face, her neck and down over her arm, covering her hand with her own. Her moan is faint, burying her head in her hair as Jane starts to suck and massage. After several minutes, Jane feels her straddle her hip, pulling her lean muscular thigh tight to her core. Rocking hard a few more times before she goes rigid, exhaling with a small gasp, her petite orgasm floating through her.

Relaxing back down next to her, cradling her head to her breast, running her fingers through dark, tangled hair, she murmurs softly, rocking them.

Jane looks up sleepily, holding a firm breast with one hand, the other rubbing the small of her back and down over her bottom, pulling them close. "Just going to rest for a minute, ok?"

Leaning down, soft lips brush the top of her ear whispering, "Night, Sweetheart."


End file.
